Spewing Venom

Is it just me, or does it bug you when Rampage radio announcer Dan Weiss has to say, “the Venom Energy Power Play” every time he says power play? Dunno, there were a couple of times where Dan had to say the whole sponsored statement three times within 10 seconds.

Venom Energy is certainly getting their money’s worth, but I would think ONLY when the Rampage are actually ON the Venom Energy Power Play should Dan have to call it the Venom Energy Power Play. Otherwise, when he wants to just tell us the Rampage are 4th in the league on the Venom Energy Power Play, and they are 19th on the Venom Energy Power Play on the road, the sponsorship rights get a tad excessive. Did you know that Saturday, they broke an 0-12 streak when they were on the Venom Energy Power Play?

At other times during the broadcast, when Dan merely wants to say “power play” does he have to drop the sponsor name in there every time? Does the sponsor have exclusive rights all the way to infinity so that every time Dan even thinks about saying power play, he is compelled to say … well, you know what.

Does Dan have to say it at home? At the office?

“Hey, so and so is really pulling a VEPP around here, don’t you think?”

Seriously, at the end of the second period when Matt Wilkens scored on the pp, and Dan was exiting for the commercial break, he mentioned three times in 10 seconds that Wilkens scored on the VEPP — please, we get it.

Just wondering if it’s just me, but it’s really getting under my skin.

Will anyone stop the Wolves?

Why not just stop the season right now and just begin the Calder Cup Finals between Hershey and Chicago?

The Wolves, who will be sleeping in their own lairs Saturday night waiting for the Rampage to arrive from Rockford for their matinee Sunday, scored six goals in the first period against the visiting Aeros Saturday. How many folks were still listening to that broadcast after the first 20 minutes, eh?

Friday night, trailing 2-1 on the road in Peoria, Brett Sterling scored twice in the last 2 minutes of the game for a 3-2 win!

What was nice about that? It’s good to see Sterling is an equal opportunity tormentor around the division, as he has scored 1,000,000 goals against the Rampage and now, he has scored 28 goals in 32 games against the Rivermen.

The Wolves are now 11-0-0-2 since the beginning of time, and given that the Rampage spotted them a 3-0 first period lead and almost caught up to them, says a lot about this San Antonio team.

The Bears are an amazing 31 games OVER .500, and not even the hottest team in the league.

That title belongs to the Wolves, who are licking their chops waiting for the Rampage tonight.

Rodeo time lots of fun

Let me tell ya something.

Covering the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo was a blast, mainly because rodeo folks are just the best people in the whole world.

Susan Canode is one of the most amazing public relations people I’ve ever met. If you want to know which finger a cowboy uses to clear his nostril, Susan can tell you.

She’s the reason this city slicker could get the job done. I mean, John Whistler, Richard Oliver and the other folks who wrote articles for the Express-News did a wonderful job of penning the stories that needed to be penned.

But Susan usually inspired us to consider what story to tell.

Thanks, Susan!

Some random rodeo thoughts

• It’s going to take a BIG bottle of Febreze to make the AT&T Center smell Downy fresh.

• Country music fans are totally cool with just sitting in their seats and listening to great music.

• I believe lots of folks endure the rodeo events in order to see their favorite C&W stars.

• It might just be me, but when the team ropers take over, it’s time to hit the concession stand.

• To this day, I don’t have a clue why the cowboys think bareback riding is in any way a good time.

• I stood next to one of them bulls Thursday night in their corral. Not interested, ever, in getting any closer than the five feet I ventured forth, never mind jumping on its back and say things like, ‘nice cow’ in its ear.

• The steers seem to be oblivious to most everything in their lives.

• Barrel racers are mighty purdy.

• You never see a professional cowboy from Boston, Mass., just as you never see a pro hockey player from Nevada.

• Whoever publishes the official rodeo lineup program made a horrible error, leaving off the T in Trevor Brazile’s first name. That’s like the Yankees dropping the B on number 3′s first name and calling him Abe Ruth. Brazile is to rodeo what Ruth was to baseball.

• Didn’t know Alan Jackson was so tall, otherwise, I would have said, “Hi,” and tried to shake his hand rather than try and get around him in the hallway.

• I didn’t catch Celeste’s last name, but best to her in her quest to be Miss Rodeo Texas next year.

• Finally, why do fans get so excited when a cowboy goes airborne? I may be a sports fan, but I’m a dad first. When one of those guys does that, I don’t get excited. I get worried.

Parting shot

When the Rampage finally come home, they will finally come home.

Huh?

Once the Rodeo Road Trip is history, other than a two-game skip up to Chicago, the Rampage will play 20 of their last 22 games in Texas.